Ivy Power

I t may not be a truism that those who can, do, and those who can't, teach --but it sort of seemed that way last week when former Vice President Al Gore said he would be taking a post at Columbia University in New York.

The man who would have been President will begin teaching a graduate-level journalism course -- called "Covering National Affairs in the Information Age" -- in early February at the Ivy League university.

Gore isn't the only former Clinton Administration official to have turned to Academe. Former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson will be teaching at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government the next two semesters.

Apparently, Harvard also is courting another Clinton Cabinet member, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, an alumnus and former employee. Though Harvard won't comment and Summers didn't return a call for comment, he is rumored to be one of three leading contenders to succeed Neil Rudenstine as president of Harvard University. (Gore and Clinton supposedly were on the longer list of about 500 nominees, but didn't make the cut.) The other two are University of Michigan President Lee C. Bollinger and Harvard Provost Harvey Fineberg.

Summers, a brilliant economist who last week started a new job at the Brookings Institution in Washington, certainly has the qualifications to take the top spot at Harvard, which is looking for a person "of high intellectual distinction and demonstrated leadership qualities." And Harvard may not be the only Ivy League institution looking at Summers. Unconfirmed rumor has it that the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where Summers' parents are both emeritus professors, is interested in attracting him to its faculty. The school wouldn't comment.

The biggest fish in the sea, however, may still be Bill Clinton, whose name was mentioned as a possible chancellor of Oxford University, for his fundraising prowess, among other things. Just imagine the excitement that would be engendered by turning him loose on campus.

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Tax Relief

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan expressed support for a tax cut, saying that rapidly expanding federal surpluses should enable both elimination of the national debt and tax relief. Greenspan said growth of the U.S. economy is ''probably very close to zero,'' a sign he likely intends to make more rate cuts.

Flying High

Airplanes and electronic goods bucked the manufacturing trend, helping push December durable-goods orders up a surprising 2.2%. Economists had expected the orders to fall 2.0%, after they rose a revised 1.8% in November.

Pardon Me?

Fugitive financier Marc Rich and his partner, Pincus Green, received presidential pardons, one of Clinton's last acts. A House panel is looking into the matter, after questions were raised about more than $1 million in contributions to the Democratic Party made by Rich's ex-wife. Denise Rich denied her donations were related to the pardon.

Making the Cut

Lucent
plans to cut up to 16,000 jobs, or 13% of its workforce, to try to cut costs an annual $2 billion.
WorldCom
reportedly plans to slash 10%-15% of its jobs, and
Sara Lee
plans to lay off 7,000 workers. Among other companies making cuts:
AOL Time Warner
and
J.C. Penney
.

Quitting Time

John Mack quit as president of
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
, after a long-running power struggle with CEO Philip Purcell. CFO Robert Scott will succeed Mack.
Bank of America
's Hugh McColl Jr. also will retire in April. He will be succeeded by Kenneth Lewis, president.

Earnings, More or Less

Some tech companies were happy last week, among them
Qwest Communications
and
EMC
, whose earnings exceeded forecasts. Compaq, though it posted a $672 million loss after a big charge, and lowered its outlook, rose after several analysts upgraded it.
Dell
issued another warning, and
Honeywell
's net, excluding one-time charges, fell. Among nontech companies,
Georgia-Pacific
missed reduced forecasts by a wide margin,
Dominion Resources
beat estimates and
Merrill Lynch
profit rose 11%.

Under Attack

Microsoft
blamed unknown hackers for a second day of failures on its major Web services. Executives believe the attackers discovered a crucial weakness in Microsoft's Internet architecture the day before, when its Web services were having problems.

Power Trip

President Bush is expected to discuss California's power problems at a meeting with Mexico's president in February, hoping to expand power-plant construction there. Meanwhile, the EPA may temporarily waive some federal air-quality standards to help ease the crisis.
Phelps-Dodge
may have to close some out-of-state mines because of skyrocketing energy rates.

Kiss and Make Up

Calvin Klein and
Warnaco Group
made a surprise settlement announcement, just as their licensing trial was starting. The settlement involved no cash, and the two sides apparently will resume business as usual.

Outta Here

DaimlerChrysler
's third-largest holder, Kirk Kerkorian, has reportedly cut his stake in half, to about 2.3%.

Odds 'n' Ends

A federal judge in Brooklyn declared a mistrial in a case involving tobacco-related asbestos claims.

Sunbeam
was warned that its shares may be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, because it hasn't been meeting some requirements.

Board members were chosen to devise a set of international accounting standards.

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